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One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics
is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. -- Plato
(429-347 BC)

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: Yesterday afternoon, Donald Trump's campaign announced the formation of an Evangelical Advisory Board. Members of the board were not required to endorse Trump. Indeed, some have been very critical of him.

In a statement, the campaign said the board represented Trump's "endorsement of those diverse issues important to Evangelicals . . . and his desire to have access to the wise counsel of such leaders." Among those on the board are Dr. James Dobson, Dr. Richard Land and Ralph Reed, and it will be led by former Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.

I recognize that some conservatives are skeptical of Trump. He was not my candidate in the primaries. But he is clearly reaching out to evangelicals. And if we hope to have any influence in the next administration, I believe we need to reach out to him. We will get nothing from Hillary Clinton.

As Franklin Graham explained to those gathered in New York City yesterday, there will never be a perfect candidate this side of Heaven. The choice before us this November may not be one we wanted, but for the sake of the country and the values we cherish we must choose the better candidate, the candidate who is reaching out to us and is not overtly hostile to our values.

Trump Eviscerated Hillary - Donald Trump today took the fight to Hillary Clinton. In a speech this morning, he pulled no punches and hit themes certain to resonate with the American people.

Trump framed the election as a choice between the status quo and real change; between globalism and Americanism; between a successful businessman running to give back to his country and a corrupt politician, under FBI investigation, who puts personal gain before people.

By the way, Clinton's former IT expert who set up her personal email server, plead the Fifth today more than 125 times! Again, what law does he think he broke?

Trump put November into stark perspective, saying, "The choice in this election is a choice between taking our government back from the special interests, or surrendering our last scrap of independence to their total and complete control."

And Trump ripped into Hillary Clinton. He challenged her judgment. He hit her on Benghazi and blamed the Obama/Clinton team for the rise of ISIS, which didn't exist until they came into office. Trump said that Clinton's foreign policy "spread death, destruction and terrorism everywhere."

Trump noted, "Her campaign slogan is, 'I'm with her.' You know what my response to that is? I'm with you: the American people."

He also laid out a bold, positive agenda, promising to appoint judges who will uphold the Constitution, lift restrictions on energy production, repeal Obamacare, pass tax reform and rebuild our military.

Obama's Assault On Our Values - Congressional Democrats are still attacking the Second Amendment. Democrats staged a sit-in on the House floor this morning demanding votes on gun control legislation. (Editor's note: They are still at it as of the posting of this article. They have indicated they intend to stay all night.) Now, I want to tell you about Obama's ongoing assault on the First Amendment.

California has mandated that all insurance policies must cover elective, surgical abortions as "basic health care." At least three churches filed a federal lawsuit against the mandate, which flies in the face of the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision.

The churches also asked the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate whether the California mandate violated federal legislation, known as the Weldon Amendment, intended to protect rights of conscience.

The Obama Administration ruled yesterday that church health insurance policies are not protected by the Weldon Amendment and, thus, churches can be forced to pay for elective abortions.

It is hard to imagine a more outrageous and blatantly anti-First Amendment order than this. If the government can force churches to pay for abortions, it's not far from ordering pastors to perform same-sex marriages.

Meanwhile, another First Amendment controversy has been brewing, this one related to free speech. A number of left-wing state attorneys general are attempting to prosecute global warming skeptics for fraud. They are using the brute force of big government to shut down the debate.

Thankfully, this overreach is getting serious pushback. Last week, more than a dozen conservative state attorneys general publicly warned that if climate change skeptics could be prosecuted for fraud, so could global warming alarmists like Al Gore, whose wild predictions have never panned out.

Not long ago, the left was panicking about the coming ice age, not to mention global famine caused by overpopulation and "peak oil." I'd say the right has a far stronger case to make when it comes to prosecuting environmentalist fraud.

The Importance Of Judges - As utterly ridiculous as these examples are, they are yet more evidence of the left's growing intolerance for religious liberty and free speech. And as I noted in both examples, these issues are being fought over in the courts. They will be decided by judges.

It is difficult to overstate the importance of this upcoming election when it comes to control of the courts. The death of Justice Antonin Scalia has left the Supreme Court evenly divided between four reliably liberal justices and four generally right of center justices.

The decision upholding an individual's Second Amendment right to own a firearm was a 5-to-4 decision. The Hobby Lobby decision, upholding religious liberty, was a 5-to-4 decision. Both will be overturned if Hillary Clinton is elected.

She may lie about many things, but she does not lie about her extreme pro-abortion record. Hillary Clinton will appoint radical, left-wing judges who will force churches to pay for abortions and effectively repeal the Second Amendment.

Donald Trump has produced a list of judges vetted by the best conservative organizations. If he is elected president, he will have to appoint conservative judges to counter the left-wing Obama appointees already on the courts who will try to block everything he does.
-------------Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working FamiliesTags:Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families, Trump's Evangelical Outreach Continues, Obama's Assault On Our Values, importance of judgesTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

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